INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER UNIVERSITY STUART GREAVES Forerunner Study Track: The Forerunner Message in Isaiah 1-45

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1 INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER UNIVERSITY STUART GREAVES Forerunner Study Track: The Forerunner Message in Isaiah 1-45 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Isaiah 24. I just thought that the song was so appropriate because as I m thinking about this subject that we re going to talk about tonight, Isaiah 24, and looking at the global end-time landscape of God s judgment and triumphing over evil, I couldn t help but think that the anchor for the end-time church really is going to be the cross. We need to grow in the understanding of all that is made available to us through the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, so I couldn t think of a more appropriate Psalm to kind of stir up my heart for tonight. Isaiah 24. Let s pray. Father, we thank You for Your word. Father, we thank You that Your Son rules and reigns and that You ve given Him all authority in heaven and on earth. Father, we thank You for Your presence, and we ask You that tonight You would open up our eyes to Your law. Lord, we want to see glorious, marvelous things, beautiful things concerning Your heart. Lord, would You fascinate, would You woo, would You wow, would You cause our hearts to tremble in Your presence as You open up Your word by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we ask You, Father, that Your Spirit would take the things that are near and dear to Jesus heart and make them known to us. In Jesus name, Amen. Before we dive into Isaiah 24, I just want to draw your attention for just a moment to Habakkuk 3:16. What is happening is the Lord had just spoken to Habakkuk about the shaking that will take place in the nation of Israel and the shaking that will take place in the nations of the earth. Habakkuk makes a very interesting statement. He says, I will tremble in my heart now so that I might have rest in the day of trouble. In other words, I m going to let myself be troubled and disturbed now by the information, let it do its work in me, let it rectify some things inside of my thinking, so that when the shaking actually comes I will be a vessel of rest, and then give peace, and comfort, and perspective to those that are around me. I have found that when looking at the subject of the end-times there are two approaches: to dive in or to avoid it altogether, just because it is unsettling. If you read Isaiah 24 and just read it line upon line, there are some really troubling things that are mentioned in this passage, but I hear, as it were, the echoes throughout history, Habakkuk saying to us, You know what, let it trouble you now, let it disturb you now, work through the issues now before the Lord, so that you may find rest in the day of trouble. Tonight we are going to look at Isaiah 24 and Isaiah 25, and what is interesting about Isaiah 25 is that Isaiah 25 is a song. It s a song that is sung by the prophet Isaiah. But guess what? It is a song that he sings as a result of having seen and prophesied what he prophesied in Isaiah 24. So there is something about the content of Isaiah 24, if properly understood in light of the character and nature of God, that is actually produces a love song of worship in our hearts. I. REVIEW: THE CONTEXT OF ISAIAH A. Isaiah is inserted in the context of two important sections and themes: Just a quick review of the context of Isaiah 24 and 25. Isaiah 24-27, that cluster of chapters, is inserted into very important sections and themes in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 1:1-12 highlights, for the most part, God s zeal to restore Israel, to fulfill His promises to her. Deuteronomy 28:1-10 gives you a really quick snapshot of what restored Israel will look like in her relationship with the nations of the earth. In Isaiah we see God s zeal to deliver Israel as well as bring the nations to His glory. In Isaiah s day, they were under siege, they were being attacked by the Assyrians, so this was a very relevant message to them, but the Lord is making it clear that there is yet coming another siege at the end of the age.

2 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 2 We see this in Revelation 11, where the Lord promises that He will deliver Israel, restore her, as well as bring the nations into His glory. Isaiah 1:1-12 primarily addresses God s dealings with the nation of Israel, His commitment to lead them into the promised destiny, yet in Isaiah He puts before us also His commitment to bless the nations and to bring them into His glory. We ll talk about that in a few minutes, when we look for a brief moment at Genesis Isa God s restoration of Israel 2. Isa God delivers Israel and brings the nations into His glory B. Isa.1-12 primarily addresses God s dealings with the nation of Israel and His commitment to lead them into their promised destiny Gen 12:2. Yet, Isa puts before us God s commitment to bless the nations by bringing them into His glory Gen 12:3. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Gen. 12:1-3) C. In Isaiah 1-12, the nation of Judah is in crisis and they are refusing to put their trust in the Lord. Yet the Lord is committed to bringing Israel into her destiny as seen in Isa. 2:1-5 and Isa. 8-12, thereby assuring Israel that He is with her and faithful to His covenant as seen in: In Isaiah 1-12, that first section of Isaiah, the nation of Judah is in a crisis, but while they are in this crisis, they are refusing to put their trust in the Lord. The prophet Isaiah comes to them and says, Look, yes the Assyrians are coming, but you must not put your trust in the diplomatic alliances that you are forming with other nations, but rather put your trust in Him, for He alone can and He alone will deliver you. That s the environment in which Isaiah was talking to the nation of Israel. They were under siege and he was telling them, Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. He will deliver you. Trust in the Lord. He s committed to you. He will free you. He will restore you. But the nation continued to refuse to put their trust in the Lord. Yet the Lord is committed to bringing Israel into her destiny. I want to refer you back to Isaiah 2, which was our first session at the beginning of this semester, and the Lord assured Israel of His faithfulness to her and to His covenant. The Lord does this in about four ways. 1. His manifested discipline according to covenant (Deut. 28:15-68) Number one, He manifests His discipline according to the covenant. The very fact that God is manifesting His divine discipline on the nation is a commitment to His covenant. In the second half of Deuteronomy 28, the Lord makes it very clear, If I make a covenant with you, but you don t walk out the commitment to the covenant then I will deal with you accordingly. We all know the verse in Lamentations 3:24, where Jeremiah is walking in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonian armies, and Jeremiah says something very interesting in the midst of surveying Jerusalem; he says this, Great is Your faithfulness. What an interesting statement to say when you re walking in a city that has been destroyed by your enemies. Part of what Jeremiah was referring to was that God was faithful to the covenant that He made, and in the covenant were both the conditions for blessings as well as the conditions for His divine discipline.

3 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 3 2. His giving of a Son Messiah (Isa. 7:14; 9:6; 11:1-3) So God assures the nation of Israel that He is with her, number one because of His divine discipline, but second, He also gives her assurance of this by giving her a Son, the Messiah. The very birth of Christ is God s commitment to Israel and to bring her into her promised destiny. 3. His promised future deliverance of Israel (Isa. 10:25-27) Third, He promises to bring about a future deliverance. 4. His fulfilling of the promise of Gen 12:1-3 in the age to come (Isa ) Fourth, He is going to fulfill the promise that He made in Genesis 12 in the age to come. We see passages like Isaiah 11, 12, 25, All of these are chapters, and many others, highlight to us that God indeed is going to fulfill the very promise that He made to His servant Abraham. D. The judgments of God are designed to create an environment of faith for justification. He confronts the core issue in Israel and the nations: self-reliance the flesh (Isa. 2:10-12, 17). God s judgments are in the hopes of turning the nations to the saving knowledge of Christ through the cross (Isa. 26:9; Matt. 16:24; Acts 17:26-27; Rev. 9:21, 16:11). The judgments of God are designed to create an environment of faith. God s judgments are designed to create an environment of faith. Here s how. What He does is that He confronts the core issues of self-reliance. He confronts the issues of self-reliance, and He confronts the things that we put our trust in primarily, other than Him. He shakes those things in the hopes to create, as it says in Acts 17, a groping, that we would seek and that we would find Him. The New Testament calls self-reliance, the flesh, the very thing that Jesus calls us to deny, to take up our cross, to deny ourselves and to follow him, so in the judgments God actually is helping us by creating an environment to expose our self-reliance and put our confidence in Him. A nicer way of saying it is, Remove everything that hinders love. See, it has a ring to it, right? Confronting self-reliance. Removing everything that hinders love. It s all the same thing, but one sounds more poetic. God s judgments are in the hopes of turning the nation to the saving knowledge of Christ through the cross. E. Isaiah prophesies how God can effortlessly confront Israel s misplaced trust in the nations and the self-reliance of the nations, as well as deliver and establish Israel, then bring the nations to the mountain of the Lord according to the promise given to Abraham. Isaiah prophesies how God can effortlessly confront Israel s misplaced trust in the nations. In fact, later on, in Isaiah 40:13, the Lord makes a very powerful statement about the nations: Israel, the nations are a drop in the bucket. They are nothing to Me. Why in the world would you put your entire weight on a drop? That s what He is communicating to them. He says, Rather, put your hope in Me. Don t put your hope in a drop. Like it says in Psalm 62, Don t put your hope in a vapor, no, but rather put your hope in the I AM, Yahweh, the Uncreated God, the Holy One of Israel. He will deliver you, and He will establish her in her eternal destiny. Then He will bring the nations to the mountain of the Lord, and we ll talk a little bit more about the mountain of the Lord next week, but He will bring the nations to the mountain of the Lord.

4 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 4 1. The Burden Against the Nations His plans will not be thwarted, The Triumph of God, F. Isa 24-25: The Triumph of God, Pt. 1 So for today, Isaiah 24-25, the triumph of God :1-23: The Day of the Lord Isaiah 24:1-23 describes the day of the Lord. It is the time period when God is going to fully manifest His power and His glory, and He confronts all of His enemies and vindicates His people. That s the meaning of the day of the Lord. It s where God fully manifests His glory, confronts His enemies, and vindicates His people :1-12: The Millennial Reign and the Feasts of God (Rev ) In Isaiah 25:1-12, we see the millennial reign and God s feast as He is feasting with His people and with the nations on the mountain of the Lord. II. ISAIAH 24-27: ISAIAH S LITTLE APOCALYPSE A. Isa is also termed the little apocalypse of Isaiah. It could be described as a Reader s Digest version of the book of Revelation. A couple of introductory thoughts about Isaiah Most commentators refer to this cluster of passages as Isaiah s little apocalypse, or the apocalypse of Isaiah. In many ways Isaiah could be like a Reader s Digest of the book of Revelation. If you want to get a short, condensed summary of the book of Revelation, Isaiah 24-27, those four chapters, serve as a very powerful summary of the book of Revelation. B. Prophetic and apocalyptic passages have similarities, but there is a difference. The word apocalypse means disclosure, usually referring to the disclosing of something secret. Daniel the prophet makes mention of the secret (Dan. 2) which gives insight into God s leadership pertaining to the end of the age. It is the unveiling of God s hidden strategy to bring about the consummation of His promise to Israel and the nations. The word apocalypse means to disclose. For those of you who are researching these chapters and looking at commentaries and looking at articles, you ll find that there is a difference between prophetic scriptures and apocalyptic scriptures. There are some similarities, but there is a marked difference between prophetic scriptures and apocalyptic scriptures. C. Prophetic and apocalyptic passages alike deal with God s divine activity and His engagement in human affairs. The apocalyptic passages, however, deal with how God triumphs over evil and accomplishes His eternal purpose even when it seems that evil will overcome and all seems lost. The apocalyptic literature unveils the secret of God s divine strategy designed to give hope in dark times. The prophetic and apocalyptic scriptures both deal with God s divine activity and His engagement in human affairs. When you read apocalyptic passages, or when you read prophetic passages, both of them have this in common: that God has profound interest in dealing in the affairs of men. He has something to say about what is taking place in the day in and day out of the nations of the earth. However, the apocalyptic passages deal

5 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 5 specifically with how God is going to triumph over evil. What happens in the apocalyptic passages is that evil is put forth and the situation actually seems hopeless. It seems hopeless and insurmountable. But the apocalyptic passages, what they do is convince us of the fact that God will triumph over evil. The apocalyptic passages are designed to give us hope. One of the reasons why they are not giving us hope right now is either we are too comforted by the darkness that He s seeking to destroy that s a different subject for another day or we re not in touch with how dark things are and how dark things are going to get. The prophet tells us things are going to get really, really dark. It s going to seem insurmountable. It s very similar to the nation of Israel when they came out of Egypt, right before they crossed the Red Sea, they re standing at the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and his armies are coming, and the ocean s right in front of them and they re like, Man, we re dead. There s nowhere to go. That is the endtime scenario. There will be a scenario in the earth where the church, where Israel, is going to look and go, This is it. We re done for. But the apocalyptic passages preemptively give us a message now that, No, when those days come, don t give in to despair, but know that God will triumph. In other words, He will split the Red Sea. The apocalyptic passages are very powerful. They deal with how God triumphs over evil, accomplishes His eternal purpose even when it seems that evil will overcome and all seems lost. The apocalyptic literature unveils the secret of God s divine strategy, designed to give hope in dark times. D. Paul referred to the secret as the mystery (Rom. 16:24-27) or the hidden wisdom (1 Cor. 2:6). It is God s divine strategy (Rom. 12:2) that indicates that no measure of evil will thwart God from bringing Israel and the nations into the promised blessing. Paul refers to this secret as the mystery. In Romans 16, he talks about the gospel according to the mystery that was kept secret. Later on in 1 Corinthians he calls it the hidden wisdom, in other words, God s brilliant leadership, God s divine strategy, that no measure of evil will thwart God from bringing Israel into her destiny and the nations into the promised blessing. Nothing will stop Him. It s designed to give us great confidence. E. In the apocalypse God declares that He is going to confront evil and triumph over it. This reality perplexed the prophets (1 Pet. 1:10-12). The New Testament shows that the triumph is inaugurated when YHWH: In the apocalypse God declares that He is going to confront evil and triumph over it. Here s the thing where it gets interesting. The prophets, according to 1 Peter 1:10-12, were perplexed by this. And so, Isaiah he reads his own prophecies I imagine, Isaiah and others and he gets a song in his heart, but he is perplexed according to Peter. He doesn t quite figure out, How is this going to happen? How are You going to destroy evil and deliver Your people? Moses was stumped by this. Ezekiel was stumped by this, Malachi, all of the Old Testament prophets. Peter says that they were carefully searching the scripture. He says that even the angels were looking into these things, When are these things going to take place? The New Testament comes on the scene and shows us how Yahweh triumphed over evil in an inaugural way. He does it by doing the unthinkable. He becomes a man Himself. The prophets could no more have guessed that part of God s divine strategy was that God would become a man. John 1:14, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This Word, that dwelt among us and became flesh, confronts our dilemma. He bears our griefs and our sorrow and our transgressions. Then He makes payment for the judgment that is due us. He then triumphs over darkness according to Colossians 2: It says that Jesus Christ, when He died on the cross,

6 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 6 was publicly embarrassing principalities and powers when He died on the cross. At the end of the age, God will openly confront evil through the crucified man, Christ Jesus. And so the New Testament fills in the blanks for us concerning how God is going to triumph over darkness. 1. Becomes a human being (Jn. 1:14) 2. Confronts our dilemma (Isa. 53:4-5) 3. Pays for our judgment (Rom. 3:25) 4. Triumphs over sin and darkness (Col. 2:14-15) 5. Eschatologically confronts evil through the crucified Man (Rev. 5:4-7) 29 Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (Jn. 1:29) 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Col. 2:14-15) 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. (Rev. 5:4-5) In my opinion one of the most powerful apocalyptic statements is made in John 1:29, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. I believe when John was talking about the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, he was talking about the sin being taken away through the cross and then the sin being taken away through the end-time judgments as seen in the book of Revelation. This very Lamb who died on the cross is the same Lamb who is now opening up the scroll and breaking the seals, and confronting the evil infrastructures in the earth, as He is taking away the sin of the world. So it s not the just the taking away the sin of the world in terms of our personal lives, though, yes, that s actually where it begins, where the hearts of men and women are turned to God and His Christ and their hearts are justified by faith, and they being to live by faith and they get conformed into His likeness. That s where it begins. Ultimately it goes to where Jesus will drive sin out of the earth. Another statement Jesus made that is very powerful related to this is in John 19 when He says, It is finished. It is finished. In other words, now everything is in place for the ultimate confrontation in the timing of the Father to take place to drive evil off of the earth. F. Jesus will triumph over insurmountable evil and gives us the assurance that Israel and the nations will be delivered, which has spiritual, political, societal, economic, global, as well as cosmic implications (Is 60-66). III. ISAIAH 24: THE DAY OF THE LORD A. Isaiah 24 is one of the clearest passages that outline the global end-time landscape. The prophet describes the severity of the manifestation of darkness in the world and the societal, environmental, and psychological impact.

7 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 7 Isaiah 24, the day of the Lord. Isaiah 24 is one of the clearest passages that outline the global end-time landscape. Isaiah gives us a Reader s Digest view; it gives us a beautiful summary, four chapters of what the book of Revelation is all about. The prophet describes the severity of the manifestations of darkness in the world, the impact that this darkness has on society, the impact this darkness has on the environment, and the impact that this darkness has on the psychology, on the emotional makeup of the nations of the earth. So there is societal, environmental, and psychological impact that is being highlighted here in Isaiah 24. B. Jesus and the prophets describe the Great Tribulation in perilous ways. The sin, its consequences, and judgments are severe in their intensity and comprehensive in their scope. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. (Lk. 21:35) 6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left [Isa 13:12]. (Isa. 24:6) 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. (Rev. 9:15) Jesus and the prophets describe the Great Tribulation in perilous ways. What we see in Isaiah 24 is the Great Tribulation. There s more detail in terms of what will take place in the Great Tribulation found there in Isaiah 24. The consequences and judgments of the sin are both severe in their intensity, and they are comprehensive in their scope. Jesus said it this way, It will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Isaiah 24:6, Few men will be left. As you remember, in Isaiah 13:12, He says that men will be more rare than fine gold. The death toll will be horrendous. Revelation 6 says one-fourth, Revelation 9 says one-third. If you take a fourth of the human race, and then you take a third, you are talking about 50% of the human race dying a premature death over a span of 3 ½ years. You know, Brother Daniel was doing a ministry time earlier for anxiety, and I was thinking, We re going to need it. Maybe when I m done I might have him come back up and bring that thing back. There are some really, really intense things, beloved, that the Scripture highlights. C. Isa 24:1-3: The prophet draws our attention to the Gen. 1-12:3 narratives as the pattern with which God deals with Israel and the nations. Genesis 1-12:3 shows us how through judgment and mercy He pursues the nations back to Himself. 1 Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste [Gen. 1:2], distorts its surface [Gen. 7:17-14] and scatters abroad its inhabitants [Gen. 11]. (Isa. 24:1) The prophet, in Isaiah 24:1 draws our attention to what I call the Genesis 1-12 narrative. Isaiah 24:1 Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty, and He makes it waste. He distorts its surface and He scatters abroad its inhabitants. What I think is going on there is that each one of those phrases actually point us to three very significant events that happened in Genesis The reason why Genesis 1-11 is important is because here s what happens. In Genesis 1, Adam and Eve sin against God, and God does two things. He communicates the consequences of their rebellion, and He covers them in redemption. So He tells them about the sweat of the brow, he tells them about the pain of childbirth, but He also covers their nakedness. He provides for their shame.

8 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 8 The very next thing that happens is Cain. He kills his brother Abel, and when he comes face to face with God, God does the same thing. He speaks a word of discipline over Cain, but He also shows mercy to Cain by putting a mark on him to protect him all the days of this life. The next big thing that happens is God says, I m going to bring judgment against the whole earth, and so He sends the flood that s the judgments but He also provided the ark as the act of mercy. Then, in chapter 11, humanity rebels against God again, and God comes down in judgment, and He scatters them. Then He comes to the nations in mercy in chapter 12 when He calls Abraham. One of the things we have to remember is that Abraham wasn t a Sunday School guy on the side, worshiping God. He was actually one of the guys of Genesis 11. In fact, it says in Joshua 24:3 that Abraham, or that the fathers were worshiping other gods. And so what happens is God comes, entirely in His sovereign mercy, He reaches out, and He speaks to Abraham and says, Abraham, leave your father s house. I will make you a great name, I will make you a great nation. I will make you a blessing, and you will be a blessing, and I will bless you. All those who bless you will be blessed and all those who curse you will be cursed. Then He says something very powerful, In you, all the nations will be blessed. Guess who the nations are? They are the ones He just scattered earlier on in chapter 11. In chapter 12 we see God s merciful and loving pursuit of the nations who stubbornly rebelled against Him earlier on in chapter 11. Well, I believe that with the phrases here the same thing is happening, that He is reminding us. He said, Look, I will create an environment that will remind you of Genesis 1, it will remind you of Genesis 7, it will remind you of Genesis 11, but remember that in Genesis 12 I made a covenant, and that My goal still, in the midst of the shaking, is to fill the earth with the knowledge of My glory like the waters cover the sea. D. Alluding prophetically to the Genesis narrative is a token of hope reminding us of God s love and mercy in reaching out to Abraham to bless his descendants, make them a blessing, and bless all the nations. The Creator God (Gen. 1; Rev. 4:1-10) is faithful and will keep His covenant (Gen. 12:1-3). 2 And it shall be: As with the people, so with the priest; As with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; As with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; As with the creditor, so with the debtor. 3 The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the Lord has spoken this word. (Isa. 24:2-3) Alluding prophetically to the Genesis narrative is a token of hope, reminding us of God s love and mercy reaching out to Abraham to bless his descendants, and to make them a blessing, and bless all the nations. What I find interesting is that the attribute of God that is first mentioned when He talks about I will make waste and I will make end to the earth sounds very similar to what He did in Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was empty, and it was void, drawing our attention to the fact that He is Creator God. It s interesting to note that even in Revelation 4, it is the transcendent beauty of God, and the other attribute of God that gets highlighted in Revelation 4 is that He is the Creator, who is faithful, and He will keep His covenant. E. God s judgment is comprehensive, and no one escapes. Everyone from all walks of life are impacted: lay people, priest, employer, employee, rich, poor. Everyone is held accountable including the messengers seeing and declaring the judgments (Isa. 6:5; 24:16).

9 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 9 What we see in Isaiah 24:2 is that God s judgments are comprehensive. No one escapes it. In other words, everyone, from all walks of life, is impacted by this. Lay people. Priests. Employers. Employees. Everyone is held accountable and, get a load of this, even the messenger who is seeing this and declaring this is being held accountable by this judgment, because the amazing thing is Isaiah, in Isaiah 6, sees the glory of the Lord in the age to come, and he responds by saying, Woe is me! In chapter 5 of Isaiah, Woe this, woe that, woe to you, and woe to this and woe to that, and woe to all of them. In chapter 6 he said, Woe is me! Well, guess what? In the middle of chapter 24 he does the same thing. He sees the redeemed singing the song, Glory to the Righteous One, and Isaiah says, Woe is me! I am ruined. There was a prophetic man who used to say this principle, which I think is true. He said, God first speaks a message to us before He speaks it through us. In other words, these 150 chapters are designed to shake the very messenger who is being formed to proclaim these things. In other words, it s not enough to get the information. We need to ingest it and let it really just make us cranky. Just like, Wah! Really! Ugh! What about my self-reliance and where are my false comforts and all these different things? You see, messengers don t just carry information, they actually become the message. In fact, one of the things that we see often in the Old Testament is how the prophets actually lived through a lot of the things that they spoke of, at least in the beginning phase. They were not sitting on some cruise drinking Italian sodas, getting dreams and visions, and sending s, I got another cool vision, and it goes on the Internet. No, these guys were worked up by this stuff. It worked them over. It messed them up. They were challenged by it. Isaiah said, I am undone. I m a mess. Seeing all of this stuff, I am ruined. I say, Lord, when I look at Isaiah 24, I feel kind of good. Maybe I m not really getting Isaiah 24. It has to ruin us. And thus we don t just study the scroll, we eat the scroll. We want to ingest it, where it goes into our innermost parts and it begins to do its work deep on the inside. F. God s judgments not only affect the social sphere, but even creation is subject to shaking because of the sin of Israel and the nations. There are several passages that show us the correlation between the impact and reaction of the environment because of the condition of the human race (Gen. 3:17-18; 7:7-17; Lev. 26:3, 6, 20; Deut. 28:12, 18, 24; 2 Chr. 7:13-14; Rom. 8:19-22; Rev. 11:15). The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish. (Isa 24:4-6) God s judgments not only affect the social sphere, but even affect creation. Even creation is subject to the shaking because of the sin of Israel and the nations. One of the things that is interesting about the book of Isaiah, in Isaiah 1:2, the very first chapter and verse two, starts out by saying, Hear, O heavens, and hear, O earth. What is happening is the prophet is summoning the environment to a court session. He calls the created order to a court session to bring His charge against the people of God, and in some ways he s saying, Hey, heavens, earth, do you know why you guys are in so much pain and in anguish? They ask, Why? It s because of the people. A couple of years ago at IHOPU I was thinking about, though I ended up not doing it, but I was thinking about pioneering a class on the Excellencies of Christ. You know, Allen Hood teaches on the Excellencies of Christ, and then Stephen Venable was teaching Christology II. I was thinking we should do a Christology III, and Christology III was going to focus on the Jesus who died to save the trees. Okay. Some of you are going, Man, Mike needs to come back quick. Do you know that when Jesus died, He died for the redemption of the entire

10 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 10 created order? The environment is crying out to be delivered, according to Romans 8. Most commentators say that Romans 8 actually comes from Isaiah 24. And what we see in Isaiah 24 is climate change okay, moving right along but not because we re driving our cars and doing stuff. It s because the earth is being defiled by the sin of humanity. The earth has violent reactions to the disobedience of the human race. And the Lord makes it very clear that God s judgments not only affect the social sphere, but they even affect creation that is subject to shaking because of the sin of Israel and the nations. There are several passages that show us the correlation between the impact and reaction of the environment because of the condition of the human race. There are many, many passages that actually talk about this. One of the ones that is one of our favorite ones is II Chronicles 7:14, If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins, and what? heal their land. The land. He s talking about the land. Verse 14, He says, Look, I will shut the heavens. I will bring about a drought because of the rebellion of the people. There are many passages like this. Revelation 11:15 says that the wrath of God will come against those who destroy the earth. I believe there he s talking about the destruction of the earth that comes from the rebellion, the bloodshed, the evil of the human race. 1. The earth mourns and fades: The vegetation will dry up due to drought. Isaiah 24:4-6 The earth mourns and fades away; the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish. We ve got three things happening there. Number one, the earth mourns and fades. The commentators believe that is referring to the vegetation that will wither away because of the drought. We see this happen in Revelation 11, where the two witnesses shut the heavens down for 3 ½ years and there is no rain for 3/12 years. 2. The world languishes and fades: the world and all its systems. It says the world languishes and fades. I think that is referring to the world and all of its systems. They become unreliable and are beginning to fall apart. 3. The haughty people languish (2:9, 11-12, 16): Judgment creates opportunity for saving the humble. Third, the haughty people languish. As I mentioned earlier, God s judgment creates opportunity for salvation to come to the humble. And we see in Isaiah 2 where God confronts the arrogance of the human race. IV. THE REASON FOR HIS JUDGMENTS 5 The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. (Isa. 24:5-6) A. Isaiah 24:4-13 gives the apologetic for God s judgments in the world as well as its scope. The shakings are so severe, they affect the normal rhythms of domestic and social life (24:7-13) and the condition of the environment, which is significantly affected (24:4, 18-20) through droughts, disturbances in the vegetation, and violent quakes, all because of the sin of humanity (24:5-6). Isaiah 24:5-6 gives us God s reasons for judgment. We talked a little bit about that earlier, but He rehearses again why it is that He brings His judgment against the people.

11 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 11 B. There is an ecological defilement that transpires as a result of the sin and disobedience of humans as well as poor management of the environment. Due to ambiguity in the Hebrew language, there is a question about whether the earth in this passage is referring to the land of Israel or to the whole earth. One can go either way, yet come out with the same message: there is an unprecedented environmental shift that is before us due to the sin of humanity. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Rom. 8:19-22) 33 I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. 34 Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it shall rest for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it. (Lev. 26:33-35) There is an ecological or an environmental defilement that transpires as a result of the sin and disobedience of humans as well as poor management of the environment. Due to ambiguity in the Hebrew language, there is a question about whether the word earth in Isaiah 24 is referring to the land of Israel or to the whole earth. One can go either way, yet come out with the same message, because if it s Israel it still has massive implications on the rest of the earth. If it s the whole earth it automatically has implications on Israel, so you can end up with the same message, no matter where you land on the interpretation of that, in my opinion. There is an unprecedented environmental shift that is before us, due to the sin of humanity. That we do know. Whether it is now or not is not the point. What we do know for sure is that there is coming a significant environmental shift in the earth, and it is because of the sin of humanity. C. The earth (the environment) is struck with the curse of God and there is unprecedented death (few are left) because of the sin of the world. The earth, or the environment, is struck with the curse of God, and there is unprecedented death. In other words, few are left, again because of the sin of the world. 1. Transgressed the laws: The people refuse the teaching and instruction of God. He gives us three reasons. Number one, the law of God is transgressed. In other words, the people refuse God s instruction. Psalm 2 really makes that point for us. 2. Changed the ordinance: The people refuse God s requirement and live by their own broken moral compass. Second, they change God s ordinances. In other words, they are refusing God s requirements, so when they talk about refusing the law, they are refusing His instructions. When they talk about refusing the ordinances, it s talking about refusing His requirements.

12 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page Broken the everlasting covenant: Unfaithfulness and unresponsiveness to the covenant They broke the everlasting covenant. In other words, there was unfaithfulness to the covenant; there was a lack of response to God s covenant with His people. D. The idea of the everlasting covenant could be pointing back to the days of Noah where God makes an everlasting covenant with the people regarding the environment and the mode of His destruction through water. Jesus likened the day of the Lord to the days of Noah which tells as about the unprecedented nature of God s end-time judgments. 7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen [unprecedented] (Heb. 11:7) 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. (Lk 17:26) I would like to present a possible option in terms of what the everlasting covenant means. There are several opinions about it. Some go as far back as Genesis 9 where the Lord used the phrase, the everlasting covenant, when He made a covenant with Noah that He s not going to destroy the earth again by water. Some say that it is referring to the covenants that God made with Abraham, with David, and so forth. I think that it s probably all of those. I think it s all of the covenants that God made with His people that is what he s referring to. V. THE BREAKING OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Mt. 24:14) A. It is to be noted that the nature of the end-time judgments that the nations undergo are covenantal. The Old and New Testament messengers describe the global judgments just as described in passages like Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. The nations will undergo the judgments that God spoke to Israel along with her at the end of age. But I d like to draw your attention specifically to the New Covenant. It is to be noted that the end-time judgments that the nations undergo, when you look at the book of Revelation, for instance, or you look at Isaiah, it is interesting to note that the judgments the nations experience are covenantal in nature. In other words, they are the exact same consequences that God told Israel that they would undergo if they disobeyed the covenant. The Old and New Testament messengers describe the global judgments just as they are described in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. I encourage you to read those this week. The nations will undergo the judgments that God spoke to Israel along with her at the end of age. B. The Lord makes it clear in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 that there is judgment largely in context to lack of response to the covenant He made with Israel. Thus the prophets come with a severe message of the accountability. However, it is striking that the nations undergo similar judgments at the end of the age. The Lord makes it clear in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 that there is judgment largely in context to lack of response to the covenant He made with Israel. So what happens is the prophets come on the scene, and they bring a message of accountability. Again, however, it s striking, though, that the nations will undergo similar disciplines as the ones that were promised to Israel for her disobedience.

13 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 13 C. Matthew 24:14 is a passage filled with hope and good news even while it is one of the most terrifying passages in the Bible. The gospel witness has brightly shone; however, there is significant global unresponsiveness. This lack of responsiveness results in similar judgments upon the nations as upon the Jewish people. What I think is going on is Matthew 24:14. We know the passage well. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 is a passage that is filled with much hope and good news. We love that passage. We love the idea of the gospel being preached as a witness to all the nations, the good news. But while this passage offers us hope and good news, I would like to suggest that it s one of the most terrifying passages in the Scripture, and the reason is that though the gospel witness has brightly shone, however, there will be a significant global unresponsiveness to the message. This lack of responsiveness is what I believe will result in the judgments we see in the book of Revelation, but not until the witness has been established. So there is a lot of work for us to be done, because there needs to be an understanding of the witness and then there needs to be the living out of the witness, so both the communication and the life of the witness need to be established in order for Matthew 24:14 to be accomplished. A bright, shining witness. You know, in Acts 17:30, it says, Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent. D. Paul in Romans 1-2 lays out a theology of priority in which he indicates that as the gospel priority (Rom. 1:16) is to the Jew first (because God started there), and second to the Gentile (who will receive that same light as well), even so there is judgment priority (Rom. 2:9) to the Jew first (because to them it first given; Rom 9:4-5), and also to the Gentile second (because to them has been given the full witness; Mt. 24:14) 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek (Rom. 2:9) Referring to the covenantal shakings, Paul, in Romans 1 and 2, lays out what I like to call the theology of priority, in which he indicates the gospel priority. Romans 1:16, that the gospel is to the Jew first, because that s where God started, that s with whom God made a covenant, and second to the Gentile, or to the Greek, who will receive the light as well, but even so, there is a judgment priority in Romans 2:9. It is to the Jew first, because it was given to them, but it s also to the Gentile, because to them was given the full witness. Romans 2:9 But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also to the Greek. And so the gospel is the new covenant witness, which has a corresponding apocalyptic judgment if it is not responded to correctly. The message will be clear, as well as its representational witness, and then the end will come. E. The judgments that happened in Bible history, e.g. Babylon, were rehearsal judgments because they were in keeping with the shadows of the old covenant (Heb. 10:1). Not responding to the shadow which was communicated by angels (Heb. 2:2) was met by a just reward for disobedience. However, the neglect of the message communicated by the Son of God and the brightness of the revelation of Jesus requires far more severe sanctions (Heb. 2:3).

14 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 13 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him (Heb. 2:2-3) F. The gospel is the new covenantal witness with its corresponding apocalyptic judgment. The message will be clear as well in its representational witness, and then the end shall come. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man [Jesus] whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. (Acts 17:30-31) VI. DESIRING HIM IN THE NIGHT OF JUDGMENT 9 With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; for when Your judgments are in the earth (Isa. 26:9) A. Isa 24:7-13: The prophet declares again not only the scope of God s judgments, but he also highlights the emotional impact that it will have on humanity. All joy is removed, and anguish, bitterness, and confusion have taken root. Desiring Him in the night of judgment. It says in Isaiah 26:9 With my soul I have desired you in the night You could kind of cheat and make it the NightWatch, but it is not really referring to the NightWatch, though I pretend it does every now and then. But it s really not talking about the NightWatch. It s talking about judgment. It s talking about the night of judgment. Isn t it interesting that the prophet says, I desire You in the midst of the shaking? Beloved, there is this place of the understanding of the character and the nature and the purpose of God where we can actually live unoffended by what He does in the nations, that in the midst of the shaking there is this longing that Isaiah says that can exist within our hearts. He says, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early. In other words, there is an earnest seeking of Him in the midst of the coming judgments, and here s why, For when Your judgments are in the earth the inhabitants learn righteousness. Isaiah 24:17-13, The prophet declares not only the scope of God s judgment, but also the emotional impact that the shaking, the sin will have on the human heart. All joy is removed. All anguish, bitterness, and confusion is taking root in the human heart. Harvey and Irma alone had us on tilt, and I think of Jeremiah, who said, Man, if you re flipping with the foot soldiers, what are you going to do when the horses come? All joy removed. Anguish, bitterness, confusion is taking root. Earlier Daniel was talking about the news, and you begin to see it a little bit. The anguish, the anger, the confusion, the things that people say and what they re feeling, and I go, Lord, this is only the beginning. This is not even what You spoke of. 7 The new wine fails, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. 8 The mirth of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of the harp ceases. 9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. (Isa. 24:7-9) B. Social gatherings and parties no longer satisfy, and alcoholic drinks lose their pleasure. 10 The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, so that none may go in. 11 There is a cry for wine in the streets, all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. (Isa. 24:10-11)

15 Session 7 The Forerunner Message in Isaiah Page 15 Social gatherings and parties no longer satisfy, and alcoholic drinks lose their pleasure. It says in verse 10, The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, so that none may go in. C. There is tremendous confusion, and destruction is such that no one can go into their homes. There will be a cry for alcohol in order to deaden the pain and anguish, but it will not be found or satisfy. The reason why the houses are shut down and no one can go in is because of the disaster and the earthquakes and everything else. The buildings are completely destroyed. People cannot even go back into their homes to get their stuff. He goes on to say that there is a cry for wine in the streets, yet all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. There s tremendous confusion. Destruction is such that no one can enter into their homes. They ll be a cry for alcohol in order to deaden the pain and the anguish, but it will not be found, or it will not satisfy. D. The shaking will be violent, like the shaking of an olive tree, but God s activity will also be like the careful harvesting (gleaning) of grapes. The grapes, because of the gentle process of the harvest, could be referring to those who are responding to the Lord s dealings. 12 In the city desolation is left, and the gate is stricken with destruction. 13 When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done. (Isa. 24:12-13) 14 They [the grapes] shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of the Lord they [the grapes] shall cry aloud from the sea. 15 Therefore glorify the Lord in the dawning light, the name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. 16 From the ends of the earth we [grape] have heard songs: Glory to the righteous! But I said, I am ruined, ruined! Woe to me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. (Isa. 24:14-16) The shaking will be violent, like the shaking of an olive tree. The way an olive tree gets harvested is actually by this really intense shaking. It s suggested that the shaking of the olive tree actually results in the death of those in the human race. But there s also the gleaning of the grapes, and the gleaning of the grapes, the harvesting of grapes, is a gentle process. So whereas there is this violent shaking taking place with the olives, there is this gentle picking of the grapes that is taking place at the same time. These grapes that are being picked, they are the ones in verse 14, I believe, who shall lift up their voice and sing. In other words, there is a harvest of souls that is actually taking place in the midst of the shaking, and these grapes, they are singing a song, which is the direct antithesis of the rest of the earth where there is no joy, there s anguish, and there s confusion. God is raising up a people who are filled with perspective and joy, and they will sing a song to the Lord. It says, They shall sing. They will lift up their voice and they will sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Vs. 15, Therefore, glorify the Lord in the dawning light, the name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the seas. Vs. 16, From the ends of the earth we have heard songs, Glory to the Righteous One. Isn t this amazing? That in the midst of all of this stuff that is taking place, there is an understanding in the prophetic end-time church that when they preach the gospel, when these grapes come into the kingdom, they immediately begin to grow in the perspective of what is happening, and they are joining a song of worship to the Lord. In the night, as Isaiah says, I will yearn for You. I will seek you earnestly in the midst of the shaking, in the midst of the judgments.